Ohio AG Dave Yost sues Norfolk Southern over ‘entirely avoidable’ East Palestine practice derailment

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a go properly with in direction of Norfolk Southern claiming last month’s derailment in East Palestine was “entirely avoidable” and a outcomes of the company’s greed, new courtroom papers allege.

“The derailment was entirely avoidable and the direct result of Norfolk Southern’s practice of putting its own profits above the health, safety and welfare of the communities in which Norfolk Southern operates,” the federal go properly with filed Tuesday alleges.

While no person was harmed throughout the Feb. 3 accident, Yost said that Ohioans and the state’s pure property had been “recklessly” endangered after gallons of toxic chemical compounds had been launched into the air and 1.1 million gallons of water and 15,000 kilos of soil had been contaminated.

The environmental fallout prompted mass evacuations of the small neighborhood alongside the Pennsylvania border.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has apologized for the disaster and said, “I am determined to make this right.”

Yost says the go properly with “will make sure that Norfolk Southern keeps its word.”

Norfolk Southern has seen an 80% accident charge over the earlier decade with 20 derailments since 2015 resulting in chemical discharges, the AG alleges.

The sprawling 58-count lawsuit claims the company was negligent in allowing defective trains and practice operations to contaminate the state’s pure property and threaten human and environmental properly being.

And the native monetary system, residents and corporations have suffered financially resulting from last month’s crash, the go properly with claims.

“The citizens of the region have been displaced, their lives interrupted and their businesses shuttered,” the courtroom papers value.

“Ohio shouldn’t have to bear the tremendous financial burden of Norfolk Southern’s glaring negligence,” Yost said in an announcement. “The fallout from this highly preventable incident may continue for years to come, and there’s still so much we don’t know about the long-term effects on our air, water and soil.”

The go properly with seeks unspecified damages for misplaced taxes, monetary losses, and civil penalties.

The AG moreover wants a resolve to require the company to conduct future soil and groundwater monitoring for the crash location after which submit a closure plan to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

“Every day since the derailment, our goal has been to make it right for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities,” Norfolk Southern said in an announcement Tuesday. “We are making progress every day cleaning the site safely and thoroughly, providing financial assistance to residents and businesses that have been affected, and investing to help East Palestine and the communities around it thrive.”

Norfolk Southern moreover said it plans to rearrange a medical compensation fund for any long-term properly being factors that locals may experience.

The agency added that it’s engaged on investments to help homeowners wrestle potential property depreciation and is working to protect ingesting water in the long term.